Please please please don't start harassing your childcare provider about this funding change today

Haha @TiredandLate was about to say the same about furlough, I’m a payroll manager and we found out the exact same time as everyone else and my god the influx the same night of emails!

Parents getting ahead of themselves is condescending, I'm not sure what isn't the posters fault- presumably they didn't have to post it on here?

It’s not her fault. She isn’t wrong and you know it. So being mean to her is just shitty.

Typical mumsnet really. Meanwhile provider's here have never made a big song and dance about it- they've calculated how to implement the 30 hours and what things they'll charge for and how much and it's take it or leave it. I suspect many settings don't have anyone with the financial acumen to figure it out.

Some parents were getting a bit ahead of themselves.

Yeah god forbid people struggling to make ends meet may have seen it as a bit of hope. I think you're taking your frustrations out on the wrong people. The government have screwed providers over for the past however many years, not parents paying thousands for childcare. Let's hope you're less condescending and less full of disdain for parents in real life eh.

I’ve seen the multiple threads on here with people panicking and gloom mongering, screaming the industry will shut down it will be awful etc, and before there is even any detail about it released. So I hear you op. It’s all over this forum too.

the reality is the government understands the scale of this change and as such it’s a phased introduction over a period of time with a year before the first swathe so childcare providers can prepare and do so in a scaling up manner .

On one side we’ve those demanding it now,and on the other extreme we’ve folks running round their living rooms with their pants on their head screaming rhe industry will shut down.

you couldn’t even make it up

I can’t see how nurseries will be able to offer it. The government contribution is only a tiny part of the overall cost - much less than the minimum wage. All that will happen will be more nurseries closing.

would have found a different setting than forgo the 30 free hours allowance let alone if this was extended.

I found though that many childminders in an area just banded together and all refused so there was no different settings a parent could go to

In a city with lots of providers you could look elsewhere but many rural areas or towns the providers set the rules of the game

Yes

It's not a legal requirement that they must offer it to the majority of children (I think there are a few exceptions like looked after children but that's it)

A good nursery will be proactive communicate to parents that they havent absorbed the info yet and ask them for time. Not try to shame them for asking a question.

I mean you can give someone notice for any reason- if someone refuses to pay top up surely you give them notice? They'd have to pay a top up in a nursery setting anyway so they'd be a bit ridiculous to refuse to pay it, the choice would be theirs.

I get that if claiming UC this could be an issue and that the payments being termly could be problematic, but if someone refuses to pay their notice they'd refuse to pay anyway surely? How is that linked to funded hours? You pay via the portal it doesn't automatically know you're in the notice period nor is it bothered.

Fair winds to any CMs who choose not to offer the funded hours when the roll out is complete, selfishly I would have found a different setting than forgo the 30 free hours allowance let alone if this was extended.

Can nurseries snd childminders refuse to do the free 30 hours thing?

Good point

I’m a provider and honestly think that childcare should be more affordable. Not through us charging less but by government funding it properly.

as you say, it is still a business at the end of the day. I need to pay my bills, I knew I would never be rolling in it by becoming a childminder however I expected enough to be able to keep a roof over my head.

government is at fault as they are with so many things. They have organised it in such a way that they look amazing for offering it whilst brushing the hard facts under the carpet. They have knowingly underfunded the sector and left providers picking up the pieces to try and supply the childcare that people rightly deserve. The providers become the bad guys as they’re strangling to try and recoup losses. Some parents, by no means not all, I’ve had say to me ‘It’s not my problem government doesn’t pay enough, it’s yours and you HAVE to give me everything free’. Like I said, it’s not all parents and so far I’ve been lucky with those I’ve had the pleasure of caring for their little ones. Most of my past and present parents have been more than happy to pay a voluntary contribution so I’m not working at a loss. That’s not to say future parents will be the same though.

The vast majority of us will wait to hear comms about this from our childcare providers. Pretty sure that nurseries and childminders are capable of responding adequately to any queries that come through about this today. The people that start contacting them about this today are likely the people who are desperate for financial help and and dont really need a thread on this.

Yes increased in line with Scotland? I think it's 1:5 from 2 years and older

I think that's ok to be honest - but I have 3 kids incl twins and in a formal setting then adding an extra child in feels ok

Yup, one extra but I think it was over 2

did I read about a change in ratios as well? Something I definitely disagree with as a way of child care establishments affording free child care hours. Regardless of the fact that it has the potential to be unsafe and a bad idea for educating and stimulating children and helping those who are behind in social and emotional development (covid the gift that keeps giving)

I think both providers and parents are guilty to be Honest - parents have a tendency to think childcare (affordable) is a right (I know I'm guilty of this) and overlooking that providers incl childminders are a business not a charity. And at the same time some providers - well in my area - are well known for being a bit of a cartel because they know parents are desperate and because demand is higher than supply. Lines become blurred because it involves our children and it's nice to think that their childcare providers are doing it for the love of their child and not also because they have bills to pay. It's a very emotive subject when in many instances - like mine - where I pay my twins childminder more than twice what I pay my mortgage provider

I will quite happily tell a parent they are being unrealistic if that’s what they are being. Apart from one ‘thick’ comment that seems to be the worst thing that has been said unless I have missed a pertinent comment. Providers have also been called unrealistic 🤷🏼‍♀️.

And you are lacking in empathy for childcare providers who are financially stretched and closing arounfd the country. Childcare providers can do nothing and all contacting them will do is cause stress and damage relationships, but if it makes tou feel better, crack on.

but it's not difficult they can issue a simple statement as one pp received today from their nursery. Common sense.

I am long past this stage but if I knew I was spoken to or about the way some child care providers on this this thread have spoken about parents I would swiftly remove my child from your nursery as soon as convenient. But I suspect it's not like that face to face and you are very sweet and friendly when they bring their children.

For me I'm "hoping" that as twins turn 2 in February and I wasn't planning on being able to access the 30 hours until the September 2024 (so it can be used for the 3 terms until school starts) that I might be able to get the 15 hours from the April 2024 and this at least have that for 1 term

And you are lacking in empathy for childcare providers who are financially stretched and closing arounfd the country. Childcare providers can do nothing and all contacting them will do is cause stress and damage relationships, but if it makes tou feel better, crack on.